VILLAINS, VANDALS, AND VERMIN -- What Would *You* Like To See?

[Lord Liaden]

Re: VILLAINS, VANDALS, AND VERMIN -- What Would *You* Like To See?

 

More villains with a lower power level. Right now' date=' I use less than eight percent of published material because it's too mighty.[/quote']

 

Interesting. I tend to use more powerful four-color types, so if I have any complaint it's the opposite.

[Publius]

Re: VILLAINS, VANDALS, AND VERMIN -- What Would *You* Like To See?

 

Well, if not a write-up for a non-powered villain, what about some ideas for their use in the game? A list of several characters that could serve as a master villain, behind the scenes manipulating events would be cool. Also, what sort of plots will this sort of baddie go for? For instance, I'm thinking that a Normal Char Max character will be the sort to go for manipulating others into performing tasks on their behalf, not by threats or violence or even payment, but through orchestrations that would make Machiavelli proud. It doesn't have to be about stats though. Or maybe that would be best for a DH article...

 

Or to combine them, what about a time-conquering villain who is perfectly normal in all respects but one: he knows what most people are going to do next. He has been bopping about the timeline, nudging here and fouling there as appropriate in a number of different Identities. Maybe he is not a "villain": in the overall sense but must take the role on here in order to perform some critical manuver of the timestream. But on the other hand, this sounds more like Captain Chronos... Maybe it is but from further "upstream" in time going for a second pass of the era (this time as an outright villain to further manipulate events). Actually, I'd like it to be Robert Stevens-Timmons desparately trying to save his wife (which I have used Captain Chronos for in my version of the CU), that appeals to my sappy romantic side.

 

I'd like a quasi "sympathetic" Villain myself, master or otherwise, who is set up to be created by accidents caused by heroes using powers indiscrimnately. Something that could be dropped into any campaign when the characters get blaise about their power use.

 

To blend in the "inventor" type already mentioned... A villain that seems to be a useful addition to the Player's repitoire of contacts, much like the unseen (that I know of) Daedelus from DC:TAS. Someone that makes things for heroes, but is also making them for villains on the side AND has a long-range plan....

[Publius]

Re: VILLAINS, VANDALS, AND VERMIN -- What Would *You* Like To See?

 

More villains with a lower power level. Right now' date=' I use less than eight percent of published material because it's too mighty.[/quote']

 

Interesting. I tend to use more powerful four-color types' date=' so if I have any complaint it's the opposite.[/quote']

 

Like Balbanto, I normally use lower power types. I was playing DC:TAS before it came out My next campaign will be based in the CU and four-color, but there is a lot of room for smaller guys even there, especially as lower tiered "goon villains"

[Lord Mhoram]

Re: VILLAINS, VANDALS, AND VERMIN -- What Would *You* Like To See?

 

Chapter 4. Villainous Support.

 

Along the lines of AnotherSkip’s and Lord Liaden’s posts. A section covering the villains and villain organizations that provide a villain with support and logistics.

 

Ummm... wrong Lord.

[Blue]

Re: VILLAINS, VANDALS, AND VERMIN -- What Would *You* Like To See?

 

Is there a master shape-changer out there? Someone who can seamlessly imitate others? (Since I'm making a suggestion to Steve, the tradition is that there are at least 3 already in print that I haven't noticed or forgotten all about).

 

Is there a Moleman type? I'm on the verge of creating my own, just thought I'd see if I should hold off

 

Everyone loves a villain who collects heroes for his zoo! A capture specialist.

[Steve Long]

Re: VILLAINS, VANDALS, AND VERMIN -- What Would *You* Like To See?

 

Is there a master shape-changer out there? Someone who can seamlessly imitate others? (Since I'm making a suggestion to Steve, the tradition is that there are at least 3 already in print that I haven't noticed or forgotten all about).

 

Well, there's both Masquerade (CKC) and Morph (UMM, EU). That's not quite three, though maybe I could dig up another if I looked around.

 

 

Is there a Moleman type? I'm on the verge of creating my own, just thought I'd see if I should hold off.

 

Hmmm, not really. I can't say I'm wild about the idea, but it's worth throwing into the "for consideration" hopper.

 

 

Everyone loves a villain who collects heroes for his zoo! A capture specialist.

 

You must be reading my mind. I just put one on my list who's an alien that collects supers for the Malvan arena. Kill two birds with one stone thataway.

 

 

I always thought of the Punisher as a badguy, personally. How about a hero who is so on-the-line that heroes might consider him a villain.

 

Well, we've got Thunderbird in CKC. That's close enough for me; beyond that I suppose you could easily adapt some of the Dark Champions characters for that sort of purpose.

[Steve Long]

Re: VILLAINS, VANDALS, AND VERMIN -- What Would *You* Like To See?

 

Maybe Valak could use a herald?

 

LOL. Valak's no Galactus, though he's quite powerful. If anything Valak himself would make a good herald to whatever Galactus analog we have floatin' around out there.

 

That's it!!! A team of Kirbyesque transportation-based villains! Sky Skateboarder! Parallax Pogoman! The Rigellian Rollerblader! Helios the Hangglider!

 

 

...OK, OK, I'll go back on the medication....

[wcw43921]

Re: VILLAINS, VANDALS, AND VERMIN -- What Would *You* Like To See?

 

I would like to see a Lex Luthor-like Master Villian. Normal Char Max (Probably pay the increase for above norm INT), Gadgets, bases, vehicles, followers, master plans. A "Normal Guy" with super-human megalomania. I always loved the so called normal holding his own against teams of heroes.

 

 

This gets my vote as well. Perhaps a villain who can move through both the Champions and Dark Champions genres. I figure if Captain America can deal with everything from street-level crime to international terrorism to world-threatening megalomaniacs, there can be villains who finance their super-technological schemes and dreams with street-level drug trafficking and protection racketeering.

 

And I believe I may have stated this before, so forgive me if I state it again--I would like to see a few write-ups for the villains from Conquerors, Killers & Crooks described in the gray text boxes on pages 100, 146, 158 & 215 (assuming they haven't appeared elsewhere). Obvoiusly we can't have all of them, but I would like to see a few--my vote goes for Mantisman, Vesper, and Skylark.

 

A few more "activist" villains like Lady Blue might be interesting. They may consider themselves heroes, but the causes they support--communism, extreme enviromentalism, anti-globalism, race supremacy--definitely put them against the player-heroes.

[Half Baked]

Re: VILLAINS, VANDALS, AND VERMIN -- What Would *You* Like To See?

 

I'd like to see a female master villain (Mistress Villainess???) with real depth and character who is a both a schemer and a physical threat like Dr Destroyer. One who isn't aloof from the world and the PC's like Istvatha V'han and isn't a spoilt girl with superpowers cliche like Gravitar. A woman with power, drive and ambition who isn't a one dimensional personality straight from the adolescent schoolboy's clichebook.

 

One who might say:

 

"When the major newstory of today is how difficult it is for the modern woman to juggle the demands of work, family and a social life I consider it my moral obligation to conquer this nation of corrupt fools! When I can manipulate world governments, juggle a thousand plots and still find the time to destroy this band of taudry superheroes I am doing you a favour you should all be grateful for!

 

Instead of:

 

"I had nothing to wear so I thought I'd do a quick smash and grab shopping trip down Rodeo Drive!"

[Publius]

Re: VILLAINS, VANDALS, AND VERMIN -- What Would *You* Like To See?

 

Gee Steve, you forgot the Sanguine Segwayer... He of the Power Amaranthine who navigates the Eternal Void for Gingericus the Ultimate-yet-Ecofriendly-Destroyer.

[Andrew Cermak]

Re: VILLAINS, VANDALS, AND VERMIN -- What Would *You* Like To See?

 

There's a reference to a villain called the Chaos-Beast in the CU Timeline. That's a great name, and I'd love to see a write-up, be it in VVV or elsewhere.

[Shaft]

Re: VILLAINS, VANDALS, AND VERMIN -- What Would *You* Like To See?

 

I'm sympathetic to the call for a Lex Luthor-style master villain... but at this power level' date=' I honestly don't see much need to write him up in a book. [/quote']

 

An interesting idea for the VVV Appendix are Package Deals for higher class Villain Roles (as opposed to the streetwise roles in Predators). It could detail what resources & perks (contacts, followers, fringe benefits, etc...) those villains get when they obtain official positions and legitimate resources.

 

Some examples:

• Leader of Third World Nation (a la Dr. Doom);
  
• Senator/Congressional Representative;
  
• President of the US/Executive Staff member (a la Lex Luthor- please don't turn this into a political thread, fellow readers, but it would be interesting to categorize what the POTUS, VPOTUS, NSA director, Whitehouse Chief of Staff or the like can throw at you should you make the Executive naughty list; Red Skull was also briefly the Defense Secretary, but don't get me started on that one...)
  
• Corporate Executive (Roxxon, Obadiah Stane);
  
• Senior Military Officer ("Thunderbolt" Ross);
  
• City Official/Judge (as I recall the Penguin was briefly mayor of Gotham)
  
• Foreign Ambassador/Embassy staff (The villains in Lethal Weapon II, w/Diplomatic Immunity).

[Kirby]

Re: VILLAINS, VANDALS, AND VERMIN -- What Would *You* Like To See?

 

The name comes from the fact that the leader is a brain in a tank. Every setting needs a brain in a tank!

"Well, my days of not taking you seriously are certainly comin' to a middle."

-Mal, Firefly

[specks]

Re: VILLAINS, VANDALS, AND VERMIN -- What Would *You* Like To See?

 

I'd like to see a female master villain (Mistress Villainess???) with real depth and character who is a both a schemer and a physical threat like Dr Destroyer. One who isn't aloof from the world and the PC's like Istvatha V'han and isn't a spoilt girl with superpowers cliche like Gravitar. A woman with power, drive and ambition who isn't a one dimensional personality straight from the adolescent schoolboy's clichebook.

 

One who might say:

 

"When the major newstory of today is how difficult it is for the modern woman to juggle the demands of work, family and a social life I consider it my moral obligation to conquer this nation of corrupt fools! When I can manipulate world governments, juggle a thousand plots and still find the time to destroy this band of taudry superheroes I am doing you a favour you should all be grateful for!

 

Instead of:

 

"I had nothing to wear so I thought I'd do a quick smash and grab shopping trip down Rodeo Drive!"

 

 

It reminds me of a GURPS character in one of the supplements I read. I forgot her name but she was a mad scientist who looked like June Cleaver. She would build a death-ray in one hand and bake cookies with the other. That in itself would be an interesting writeup.

 

My mom, the supervillian

[Sketchpad]

Re: VILLAINS, VANDALS, AND VERMIN -- What Would *You* Like To See?

 

Speaking of Galactus ... how about a cosmic villain of that scale? Maybe a discussion on how to use a plot device villain of that manner?

In addition, any chance for a few older folks in the book? As for newer stuff, how about a few dasterdly duos? Hero gone rogue (perhaps a former member of the Champions)? A mislead kid as a villain? How about a swarm-based villain? Former Golden Age villain/hero? Hmm ...

[FenrisUlf]

Re: VILLAINS, VANDALS, AND VERMIN -- What Would *You* Like To See?

 

Solo Villains

Thunder & Lightning - while not solo, they're not really a group as much as a couple. It'd be nice to see these fan favorites if you still have the rights to them.

 

Or like I suggested -- they had a kid, who got both mom and dad's powers. Forget thunder and lightning, you've got the whole blamed Thunderstorm to worry about now!

 

Homewrecker - a brick female (based on <350 points) who thinks she's the next top model/wrestling diva/Miss Universe' date=' etc. Weilds a chain with a wrecking ball. Sooner or later she and Bulldozer would meet.[/quote']

 

That is so cool I must rep you for it. Bulldozer finally gets a girlfriend.

[assault]

Re: VILLAINS, VANDALS, AND VERMIN -- What Would *You* Like To See?

 

Is there a Moleman type? I'm on the verge of creating my own' date=' just thought I'd see if I should hold off [/quote']

 

Hidden Lands has laid the groundwork for this already, so it would mainly be an exercise in filling in the blanks.

[Metaphysician]

Re: VILLAINS, VANDALS, AND VERMIN -- What Would *You* Like To See?

 

Put a second down for including Dr Yin Wu in the master villain section. Yeah, he got the Hero Plus doc, but not everyone gets those.

[steriaca]

Re: VILLAINS, VANDALS, AND VERMIN -- What Would *You* Like To See?

 

The Brain Trust isn't anything like that. The name comes from the fact that the leader is a brain in a tank. Every setting needs a brain in a tank!

 

True. Which is why one of my villian write-ups somewhere around here is one of The Brain, which is five brains in a mixture of alcemical salutions and blood in a golem body tank. I'm thinking your leader brain guy might just take the name The Brain, which will proably force me into chosing another name when I eventuly do something to The Black Tryangle.

 

Anyways, I'm looking forward to VV&V.

[Hugh Neilson]

Re: VILLAINS, VANDALS, AND VERMIN -- What Would *You* Like To See?

 

On the note above, what about a villain who has the same name as a previously published villain and wasn't aware of that when he chose his name? This happens all the time in the comics - give them a rivalry over the name, and have two very different characters with the same SuperName.

[steriaca]

Re: VILLAINS, VANDALS, AND VERMIN -- What Would *You* Like To See?

 

Agreed' date=' but I would caution against making his schtick too much like Marvel's Kang the Conqueror. IMHO Istvatha V'han is close enough to the Kang analogue in the CU. OTOH the aforementioned classic Champs villain [i']Timemaster[/i] has potential.

 

Yes. Please bring back Timemaster. Hear is one hook you can use for the new edition of TM.

 

1) Dr. Timithy Masters was/will be a profesor of history in the Cosmic Champions universe. This has crossover protental writen all over it.

 

2) Timemaster needs his suit to 'ancor' himself in our space/time. Any sinifigent damage to it will send him back to the future 9where he will 'waist presses time' fixing it and returns for his next atempt).

 

3) His main focuses is to conquer this time, but he is also intrested in filling gaps of lost history.

 

4) He is prevented by a time paradox from bringing over the vareous superweapions from Cosmic Champions into this world (well, most of them), so he has to focus on using his knolage here to create superweapions and such here.

 

What do you think?

[Teflon Billy]

Re: VILLAINS, VANDALS, AND VERMIN -- What Would *You* Like To See?

 

Put a second down for including Dr Yin Wu in the master villain section. Yeah' date=' he got the Hero Plus doc, but not everyone gets those.[/quote']I'm willing to bet that if you want him, that'll be the only mode that he will be available.

 

TB

[Lord Liaden]

Re: VILLAINS, VANDALS, AND VERMIN -- What Would *You* Like To See?

 

Well' date=' there's both Masquerade (CKC) and Morph (UMM, EU). That's not quite three, though maybe I could dig up another if I looked around. [/quote']

 

Poor Rakshasa. When you're Dr. Destroyer's flunky you get no respect.

 

For your request, Blue, Masquerade would be the CU's Pro From Dover when it comes to imitating others, with the rep for being the world's foremost spy and assassin. Since he/she is a freelancer, he/she can turn up almost anywhere working for almost anyone.

[Lord Liaden]

Re: VILLAINS, VANDALS, AND VERMIN -- What Would *You* Like To See?

 

LOL. Valak's no Galactus, though he's quite powerful. If anything Valak himself would make a good herald to whatever Galactus analog we have floatin' around out there.

 

That's it!!! A team of Kirbyesque transportation-based villains! Sky Skateboarder! Parallax Pogoman! The Rigellian Rollerblader! Helios the Hangglider!

 

 

...OK, OK, I'll go back on the medication....

 

[Tigereye]

Re: VILLAINS, VANDALS, AND VERMIN -- What Would *You* Like To See?

 

My .02 worth here...

 

Why not combine the Luthor-type with the time-conqueror type, and/or with a woman? You'd end up with a very unusual sort of villain- I can see one who became evil because of something that happened to him/her in the past (or will in the future?) and who does not want it to happen EVER again...even if he/she must conquer all of reality in the process...

 

The Luthor-sort can take care of itself- the time-displacement device is a vehicle or OIF Bulky Focus (kind of a "TARDIS" with a working camouflage system, but owned by the wrong side- the villain can escape by running into a broom closet, or a toilet stall, or a church confessional, or a large cardboard box, or a Photo-ur-self booth...)

 

I like villains whose motives can be ambiguous, and who sometimes completely overpower the heroes, but they can be outfought if you can get into their heads a little bit (know their MO's, psych lims, etc) and spend time actually figuring the villain out a bit. This forces the PCs into role playing, not just "roll playing". (My fave villain? Magneto, of course...) The time out of combat becomes just as important as the fights themselves, if not more so, as the heroes meet the villain for the first time, with or without his or her nasty little molls...each of whom also have their foibles. Evil villains is fun, but it's even more fun when you find out why in the heck the villain is trying to blow up, rob, or take over the world.

 

I would second the motion to have villains at a number of point levels and genres, including some that could conceivably cross over into Dark Champions.